The Superior Express -

Regular readers of this column know I grew up in a house that wasn’t much more than a stone’s throw from my father’s business. The house was designed so my father could keep a close watch on his business. There was even a switch within reach of his bed with which he could turn off and on lights at his place of business. In the dual purpose building that served as a combination garage and fireworks stand, there was a door bell button so the clerk could summon help. Like a bank’s burglar alarm system, the switch was located out of the customer’s sight. This allowed the clerk to call for help without alerting the customers.

Regardless of how cold it was or how much snow we had, Dad was always able go between home and work.

I’m not quite so fortunate but it is only about a two block walk for me between my current home and the newspaper office. This week I am taking that walk with a cane.

I don’t consider the cane a sign of my advancing age but instead I’m following the advice offered by Dale Kovanda, a member of the Nelson Fire and Rescue Squad. Earlier, when we had nearly a foot of wet snow, Dale asked the Nuckolls County newspapers to share some winter safety tips. One of those was to use a cane or even a broom when walking on slick surfaces. He had a good suggestion.

Now when I am uncertain what is below the snow, I can use the cane as a feeler stick to investigate. It is much like the stick ice fishermen use to test the ice as they walk onto a lake.

On snowy days, I sometimes have trouble determining where the curbs are. In the past I have fallen when encountering a surprise curb. Now with the cane, when in the proximity of a curb or icy patch, I can reach out and feel my way.

Saturday, while walking home to lunch, I saw a young mother and child walking from their automobile to a downtown business. The youngster may have lost his footing on a patch of ice or didn’t step up for the curb. I’m not sure which. But mother had a firm grip on his outstretched hand and she never missed a step. She just pulled him along before yanking the young one to his feet.

I expect the youngster was fine, perhaps even enjoyed the experience. We oldsters would have enjoyed such an experience.

While reading the exchange papers this week, I learned an older newspaper friend didn’t have a good experience with a recent storm.

He got up early and cleared the snow from his driveway and the walk in front of his newspaper office before heading out to look for snow pictures. Thinking he had found what he was looking for, he parked and got out of his newspaper vehicle, only to fall on the ice. He fell hard and laid on the street for a few minutes recovering his senses. He was down long enough his planned subjects came to his assistance.

There was a newspaper to get out and he tried to ignore the resulting pain.

On press day, he was to make a 200 mile round trip to have his paper printed. His co-workes did not believe the roads were fit to travel on that day, and especially not for one hurting like he was. They convinced him to stay home and not try the trip until the next day.

Travel wasn’t much better the second day but not wanting to delay the paper any longer, he made the trip.

After the paper was mailed, he went to the doctor where he learned he had fractured two ribs in the fall.

About 10 years ago, we had ferocious storm on Feb. 2. A Weather Channel reporter called the newspaper office and asked that I make a video of the storm for showing on the national weathercast. I was reluctant for it was press day and the call came as I was getting the press ready.

The reporter was surprised to learn The Express had a press. There are few presses left in operation. Most papers are sent somewhere to be printed. For example, the Lincoln papers go to Omaha to be printed. The Kansas City papers are printed in Des Moines. I talked to the Weather Channel reporter in The Express Press room which is only 12 feet from my desk.

I confidently told the caller, The Express would be printed on time, provided we maintained electrical power though I couldn’t promise when it would be delivered.

Our press is more than 60 years old. It lacks some of the bells and whistles of the later models and it has some problems. A perplexing one of late has been the black blobs of ink which are appearing in unwanted places. It doesn’t do all the fancy color work the new presses are capable of but we provide color in our digital edition.

For our readers who want to see our pictures in full color, I suggest they check the Cyber Express available via the internet at superiorne.com. At that address, we post replicas of each printed page and those replicas contain pictures in full color.

A digital subscription can be purchased separately or it is a free option included with every print subscription.

If the print edition is delayed, the digital edition provides a way to stay informed on current happenings. I encourage our print subscribers to have both a print and a digital subscription.

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While we may complain about this month’s snow and cold, on Monday morning I spoke with a woman who lives 14 miles outside of Steamboat, Springs, Colo. Sunday she decided to drive into town to get her mail. That wasn’t a good idea because a foot of snow had fallen, the roads had not been plowed and she had to make most of the trip in four-wheel low. Another foot of snow is expected to fall this week with still another foot on the weekend. She was happy for the snow as the mountain snowpack was only 60 percent of normal, however, she didn’t like the timing. She preferred the snows to be more spread out to allow time for plowing. She said this week’s frequency did not allow time to move one snow out of the way before the next arrived.

Hope we don’t have the same problem this year.